Newsletter

Size of oil spill balloons

The No. 6 heavy crude oil dumped into the Savannah River in the early morning hours of July 17 originally was estimated to be about 5,000 gallons.

On Friday, the U.S. Coast Guard more than quadrupled that estimate.

"Based on two weeks of shoreline assessments and extensive studies by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies, we're now putting the spill at approximately 22,000 gallons," said Coast Guard Cmdr. David Murk, captain of the port and commander of the Marine Safety Office Savannah.

This kind of spill is extremely difficult to estimate, Murk said, because without a source, officials have no point of reference.

Coast Guard officials, however, are closer to finding the source of the spill. They've ruled out pipelines and facilities and are focusing on the vessels that were in the area at the time of the spill.

"We've narrowed our investigation to about five ships. We've held ships offshore in New York Harbor, Hampton Roads (Va.) and overseas to take samples from their bilge and ballast tanks and compare them with samples of the spill," Murk said.

The samples are being analyzed at the Coast Guard lab in Connecticut. Tar balls that recently washed up on Hilton Head Island and Folly beaches in South Carolina also are being checked to see if they are part of the same spill.

"We have every confidence that the Coast Guard and Commander Murk are pursuing this investigation with great diligence and will bring it to a successful conclusion," said Georgia Ports Authority spokesman Robert Morris.

"That they were able to respond immediately and get the port reopened that same evening says a lot about their command of the situation from the outset."

With the new estimate, Murk still doesn't anticipate any major long-term impacts.

"At this point, we've had one bird seriously injured by the spill - a crow that is being rehabbed," he said.

The Coast Guard has removed most of the containment and absorption boom from the river and its shoreline, Murk said, adding that nearly 2,200 gallons of the oil have been removed.

"The heat we've experienced in the last few weeks has helped with evaporation," he said, "and the tidal changes and currents have done a good job of washing the sea grass, which was most affected by the spill."

Nationally

March 24, 1989: The tanker Exxon Valdez hits an undersea reef in Prince William Sound off the coast of Alaska, spilling 10.8 million gallons of oil - the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

June 8, 1990: The Mega Borg releases 5.1 million gallons of oil about 60 nautical miles southeast of Galveston, Texas, as a result of an explosion and fire in the pump room.

JULY 17, 2006: About 22,000 gallons spill into the Savannah River near Elba Island from an undetermined source, spreading a sheen from Fort Jackson to Tybee's north jetties.

June 10, 2006: About 2,000 gallons of tall oil, a paper-making byproduct, is spilled into the Savannah River from the Valero L.P. facility, a chemical tank farm located near Fort Jackson.

Nov. 17, 2004: The Panamanian-flagged Fortune Epoch, a 420-foot general cargo ship, leaks fewer than than 1,000 gallons of intermediate-grade fuel oil into the ocean about 10 miles off Tybee Island. The leak kills at least 56 birds, including pelicans and loons.